Tag Archives: ccm

Steven Curtis Chapman dug his strumming hand into an acoustic guitar Thursday, playing and singing new single "Do Everything" for a small crew of folks from his label, Sparrow Records, and parent label group EMI CMG.

"It feels good to finish a song and have you all smiling at me," he said, earning warm laughter. "That's not so much been the case every time I've sat here before you."

The contemporary Christian star and his family have been fighting through a tough couple of years, following the 2008 death of 5-year-old daughter Maria Sue Chapman in a tragic accident at their home. Steven Curtis Chapman's 2009 album, Beauty Will Rise, brought an intimate glimpse into his grieving process. His upcoming album, re:creation, offers insight into healing, through a mix of new music and re-imaginations of some of his best-loved songs. He previewed the new collection for his label friends in Brentwood a day before Maria's birthday, just over a week before the anniversary of her death.

"Because God is faithful, because he is a redeemer, because he is all that he promises to be, he is bringing us into a new season as a family," Chapman said Thursday. "... To begin to make those steps forward is a lot of what this music and this title, re:creation, is about. Yeah, it represents the fact that I've recreated some songs that are familiar melodies and lyrics that have taken on a whole new meaning for me, as I found myself singing these lyrics that I've sung for many years, in light of what we see and know about God and his faithfulness to us now. It's given me a new passion and new purpose when I sing songs."

Among the re-imagined tunes on the album, due out August 9, are fan favorites "The Great Adventure" and "Heaven in the Real World." His career history -- with some 45 No. 1 Christian songs to date -- looms large on the set, but family, as with Beauty Will Rise, does too. New song "All That's Left" was inspired by Chapman's eldest son Caleb, who brought his dad some wisdom and comfort as he spoke at Maria Sue's memorial service.

"(Caleb said) something about how just in moments like this that are so chaotic and so crazy ... that still there's a clarity that we get in those moments that we don't get any other time either," Steven recalled. "And that moment, Caleb was saying, 'I really see now, it's all about relationship. All that matters is love.'"

To hear more about the origins of "Do Everything," one of re:creation's other new tunes, watch the video above.

Big Kenny of country duo Big & Rich and Christian singer Michael W. Smith joined forces with international Christian relief organization Samaritan’s Purse earlier this week for a goodwill trip to tornado-savaged Alabama to lend a hand in the clean-up effort.

When they got there, Big Kenny said he was dumbfounded by the damage.

“(It's) just absolute, total devastation, like a bomb went off and everything's level,” he told WKRN News 2. “People are still roaming the streets down there, there are still some 400 people who aren't accounted for.”

As of Monday more than 18,000 Alabamians had applied for aid in the tornado’s wake, and Smith said he’s just afraid people will forget about the devastation in the state.

“We got Bin Laden on TV, so all of a sudden this tornado is not in the forefront of people's minds,” Smith told the news cameras. “Let’s rise up and do what we're good at in Tennessee, that's volunteer.”

Francesca Battistelli remembers sitting at home as a child watching the Dove Awards, which honors the best in contemporary Christian music, and thinking the show was “the coolest thing.”

Now, the 25-year-old former Nashvillian has five Doves to call her own, including the much-coveted artist of the year trophy. She took that prize, along with female vocalist and pop/contemporary recorded song of the year, at last week's 42nd annual Dove Awards in Atlanta.

“It’s an acknowledgement, just reminding me that maybe I really am doing something right,” Battistelli says. “They are a big deal, at least to me.”

With the show now a happy memory, Battistelli’s focus is on promoting her new sophomore album, Hundred More Years, which hit stores a few weeks ago and immediately landed in the top spot on Billboard’s Christian album chart.

“The first time around, I really tried to write the best songs I could, pick the ones I was most excited about, and then just treat them really timelessly,” the singer says. “When we were talking about this record, I said I didn’t want to rock the boat too much. I wanted to try and do the same thing while trying to show I had grown as an artist and a person.”Continue reading →

Contemporary Christian singer Rebecca St. James is a married woman as of Saturday -- she married musician Jacob Fink at a noon ceremony in San Diego with 150 relatives and friends on hand.

St. James is best known for her Christian hit "Wait For Me," from 2000 album Transform, which celebrated abstinence until marriage. During the ceremony, the bride and groom exchanged purity rings they'd worn before the nuptials.

“Today has been a very special day for which I have waited a long time. I married the love of my life, Jacob," St. James wrote Saturday on her Facebook page. "Thank you so much for your prayers and support."

The new bride released her most recent album, I Will Praise You, in early April.

Christian singer and American Idol alum Mandisa has waged a lifelong battle with her weight — and on her new record, What If We Were Real, the struggle impacted her music.

“I had lost about 70 pounds, and then the holidays happened and I started going back to my old ways,” the singer explains. “Before I knew it, I had gained 20 pounds of that back.”

The day she discovered the weight gain, Mandisa had to go to the studio and record “Stronger,” the current single from her new album (released April 5).

“I was just in a pit, and I was depressed,” she says. “I didn’t feel like pretending everything was great in my life. I decided to take my mask off and be honest. I was very surprised that people appreciated it, and it let them know they weren’t the only ones experiencing those struggles.”

The experience made her realize “the power of being transparent” and inspired the rest of Real, which she says is her “most honest album to date.”

“The title track has lines that say, ‘I’m tired of smiling all the time,’ and ‘Sometimes you want to scream,’” she says. “That’s a theme throughout the whole album — recognizing that (just because) you are a person of faith does not mean your life is perfect, but that you have a relationship with the person that is perfect and that’s Jesus.”Continue reading →

Battistelli won artist of the year at the 42nd annual Dove Awards held in Atlanta for the first time Wednesday night. She also went home with two more awards -- best female vocalist and pop-contemporary recorded song.

Battistelli, 25, has surged recently with her second major label album, Hundred More Years, which reached No. 1 on Billboard's Top Christian Albums chart last month.

"I'm on cloud nine right now," said Battistelli after the awards show, which airs Sunday on GMC, formerly known as the Gospel Music Channel. "I'm standing here ... speechless. This is totally humbling."

The awards show for gospel and Christian music left Nashville, Tenn., for the first time in its history. Organizers expected the new production in Atlanta to be just as successful.Continue reading →

Local contemporary Christian voice/Caedmon's Call-er Andrew Osenga has joined the crowded ranks of musicians seeking funds via Kickstarter, but what he's looking to fund isn't exactly your standard hunk of songs. He'll be making a record, yes, but he aims to make it... in space.

"My next solo record is going to tell the story of a man named Leonard Belle," Osenga writes on his Kickstarter page. "He lives 300 years from now and loses his wife in a sudden accident while their divorce is being finalized. In his rage and grief he takes a gig driving a long-distance space freighter for a year. (Due to relativity, by the time he returns to Earth everyone he knows will be old or dead.) He decides to bring along some antique instruments and recording equipment (just like the stuff I have!) and will make a record.

"I'm going to build the interior of a spaceship, like the set of a play or a movie, and record the album in there. In uniform. I think it will be crazy fun, inspiring and will allow me to really get into the character and the idea and give it everything I have. Plus, if I don't do it, I'll end up 75 years old muttering, 'Dang it. I never built that spaceship.'"

The singer-songwriter has set his Kickstarter goal at $15,000, and fundraising is already under way. Fans can choose between a mix of gifts at different donation levels, from the mundane (CDs, early downloads) to the more interesting (a signed hunk of the "spaceship," a one-on-one "songwriting day" with the spaceman). If you'd like to offer a more tactile contribution, Osenga says he also plans to throw a "bring a hammer, build a spaceship" weekend in September, which'll give supporters the chance to help build the celestial studio, eat a few meals with the songwriter and catch a private Osenga concert.

TobyMac, Rodney Griffin and Needtobreathe’s Bo Rinehart shared songwriter of the year honors at the 2011 BMI Christian Awards, held Monday night at the performing rights organization’s offices on Music Row.

BMI saluted the songwriters for having the past year’s most-performed songs on Christian radio and television. Scott Krippayne’s “What Faith Can Do” (recorded by Christian rockers Kutless) was named song of the year and Univeral Music Publishing Group earned the publisher of the year award.

TobyMac’s songwriter of the year achievement marks his second consecutive win in the category. Universal Music Publishing Group enjoyed their fourth consecutive publisher of the year win, with five songs in BMI’s “most-played” list.

BMI’s Jody Williams, Thomas Cain and Beth Laird served as hosts for the event, which celebrated more than 20 of the organization’s most-played Christian songs, including ones penned by locally based writers Ed Cash, BeBe Winans and Kate York and performed by major contemporary Christian acts such as Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin and the gospel-success likes of Marvin Sapp. BMI also organized a tribute to late Gospel Music Association founder Don Butler, who died in February.Continue reading →

The folks on this year's Rock & Worship Roadshow tour -- Middle Tennesseans Jars of Clay and fellow contemporary Christian music providers MercyMe, Matt Maher, The Afters, Thousand Foot Krutch and Lecrae -- sure kept busy during the months-long jaunt, even when they were off stage. To wit: The ensemble's ridiculously fun and sonically impressive take on The Beatles' "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da," above.

The video has a few miles on it by now -- it was posted on March 13 -- but it's well on its way to serious viral status, having racked up some 450,696 views as of this posting. If you haven't caught it yet, you're strongly encouraged to give a watch/listen.

The Rock & Worship Roadshow has one more date coming up: April 9 in Dallas, Tex. More at the tour's official site.